A group of evangelical leaders have formed the "Evangelical Immigration Table" (evangelicalimmigrationtable.com) to support, among other things, legalizing millions of illegal aliens. A list of those involved is here.

Their policies are an example of false compassion: some might think their ideas would make things better, but they'd wind up making things worse for most people. They want a "bipartisan solution" that:

* Respects the God-given dignity of every person
* Protects the unity of the immediate family
* Respects the rule of law
* Guarantees secure national borders
* Ensures fairness to taxpayers
* Establishes a path toward legal status and/or citizenship for those who qualify and who wish to become permanent residents

The first is a strawman: enforcing our laws doesn't equate to taking someone's dignity away.

With the second, they'd establish a new, continuing immigration rule; see the description of the "Pelosi rule". Rather than encouraging good parenting decisions, they'd encourage bad parenting. They'd encourage people to bring their children here illegally and encourage the creation of even more mixed-status families.

The third point is quite Orwellian: to "[respect] the rule of law", they'd reward millions of instances of law-breaking by illegal aliens. They'd also reward all the cases where employers have knowingly hired illegal aliens in order to reduce wages and work standards. And, they'd reward all the politicians who've looked the other way - or helped out - while all that happened.

The fourth is secure the border: a sop to those opposed to illegal immigration. And, they'd probably fight against actual attempts to secure the border after their proposals were adopted.

The fifth is yet another sop, and it disguises what they're doing: helping the rich and powerful "privatize the profits and socialize the costs".

If you want to do something about this, find an experienced questioner to "cross-examine" Jim Wallis using the Question Authority plan. Discrediting him on video for Youtube would send a strong message to all the rest.

6/13/12 UPDATE: The attached video is a radio ad the Table is running in Florida. Note: the link in the video is to this post.

6/13/12 UPDATE 2: I moved the list of signatories into a separate post, see the link in the first paragraph.

"As an organization dedicated to building a coalition for immigration reform that includes all families, we are dismayed by the decision [of National Immigration Forum] to embrace an out-of-step organization like Focus on the Family... Many religious denominations and people of faith support fully inclusive immigration reform. Focus on the Family, however, is neither a church nor a denomination. It is a divisive political organization with a disturbing history of advocating exclusion – including the exclusion of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people – from the progress of our country. Those exclusionary principles are exactly the opposite of what our immigration movement should be embracing."

Immigration Equality's communications director Steve Ralls says that "[Focus on the Family] has been almost singularly focused in attacking LGBT families and women."

However, Ralls' claim that the Southern Poverty Law Center has named Focus on the Family as a "hate group" doesn't appear to be accurate; the SPLC only listed them as "anti-gay" (splcenter . org/get-informed/intelligence-report/
browse-all-issues/2005/spring/a-mighty-army). Focus on the Family avoided the dreaded asterisk.